Wire-release means for shoe-button-fastening machines.



F. G. WALTZ. WIRE RELEASE MEANS FOR SHOE BUTTON FASTENING MACHINES.

` APPLICATION FILED AUG.5. I9I6- I 1,220,574. I Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

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tit-irren sans rematar ernten.

FRANK G". WALTZ, 0F TOLEDO, OI-ITOpASSIGrNOR T0 THE TOLEDO BUTTON MACHINE COMPANY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917..

Application filed August 5, 1916. Serial No. 113,333.

To all wwm it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK Gr. VVALTZ, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Wire-Release Means for Shoe-Button- Fastening Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates particularly to wire-feed means for shoe-button fastening machines, and has for its object the provision of improved means of this class which is easily operable to quickly open both the wire holding and feed jaws, thus simplifying and facilitating the operating and care of machines of the character described.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, and while, in its broader aspect, it is capable of embodiment in numerous forms, a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,- j Figure 1 is a plan view of the wire-feed means embodying the invention with the wire-feed lever in retracted position preparatory for a feeding stroke thereof, Fig. 2 is a similar view with the feed lever at the limit of its feeding stroke, Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of Fig. 2 with parts broken away and with the wire-gripping jaws in released position, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the frame head of a shoe-button fastening machine, and 2 the wire-feed lever pivoted thereto, as at 3. Inasmuch as the mechanism employed for operating the feed lever 2 forms no part of the present invention, it will not be described.

The lever 2, in the present instance, carries a U-shaped member 4 at its outer end with said member reclining thereon and with its looped end disposed outward. A wirefeeding jaw 5 is pivoted between the legs 0f the member 4 on a screw or bolt 6 projected therethrough and through the lever 2, said jaw having teeth in position to coact with the loopedend of the member 4 to grip and feed a wire 7 forward during an inward feeding stroke of the feed lever. A spring 8 has a part coiled around the screw (S and fixed thereto against turning, and a part projecting from said screw and acting on a finger 9 on the inner end portion of the jaw to normally hold the jaw in wire-gripping position. The jaw 5 has a control arm 10 projecting from its outer side to facilitate a manual movement of the jaw to wire-releasing position against the tension of the spring 8, as shown in Fig. 3.

A second U-shaped member 11, similar to the member 4, is fixedly carried by the frame head 1 at its forward end adjacent to the limit of the inward feeding stroke of the lever 2 and has a wire-holding jaw 12 pivoted therein, as to a screw or bolt 13, and adapted to coact with the looped end of the member 1l to grip the wire 7 and prevent a retracting or withdrawing movement thereof when the feed lever 2 moves outward. This jaw is normally caused to grip the wire by the action of a spring 14 thereon. It will be noted that the jaw 12 grips the wire in a direction to prevent a backward movement of the wire but it does not prevent a forward movement thereof.

When the jaws 5 and 12 are in normal wire-gripping positions and the lever is at the limit of its inward stroke, the inner edges of the jaws are disposed in adjacent. relation so that a movcment of the feed jaw 5 from its wire-gripping position. will cause its inner edge to swii'ig into engagement with the inner edge of the jaw 12 and then act on said jaw to move it to wire-releasing position, as indicated in Fig. 3. This lfeature is of very material advantage in the operation of a machine of this character, as ordinarily it is difficult to move the holding jaw 12 to release the wire to permit the remnant of the wire to be drawn out preparatory to placing a new spool of wire on the machine. Tith the present invention, it is only necessary to exert a slight wirereleasing pressure on the arm 10 of the jaw Y 5 to effect a simultaneous release of the wire by both aws, thereby facilitating the withdrawal of the wire remnant from the machine and the insertion of the outer end of a new coil therein.

l wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any speeiic construction, arrangement, or form of the parts except in so far als such limitations are speciiied in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,-

l. In a machine of the class described, a frame, a wire-feed member iiiovably carried by said frame, a wire-holding jaw carried by said frame and normally engaging a wire to prevent a backward movement thereof, a wire-feed jaw carried by Said member and normally engaging' a wire to cause a forward Yfeeding thereof when said member has a forward feeding movement, both of said jaws normally standing in wire-gripping position, and said feeding jaw, when at the limit of its feeding movement, having its forward edge standing in position to engage the rear edge of the holding jaw and move it from wiiegripping position when the feed .jaw is moved from normal gripping position.

Q. In a machine of the class described, a-

frame, a wire-feed lever pivoted to said frame, a wire-holding jaw pivoted to said frame at the forward side of said lever, a wire-feed jaw pivoted to saidv lever andV hav- -ing a control finger projecting rearwardly therefrom, and a spring yieldingly acting on each jaw to normally retain it in wiregripping position, `said jaws having their adjacent edges substantially abutting when the lever is at the limit of its feeding stroke whereby a movement of the feed javi from wire-gripping position will cause it to act against the adjacent edge Vof the holding jaw and more it from wire-holding position.

In testimony whereof, `I have hereunto signed my name to this specification.

FRANK G. WALTZ.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

